Cloak and Dagger

Saalkan took measured steps toward Main Engineering, careful to greet those who made eye contact while avoiding those who didn't. He was primarily interested in speaking with Lieutenant Himmel. When he finally entered the main area with the antimatter reaction chamber, he decided to speak to the nearest crewman. The petty officer indicated the chief engineer was on the upper level.

Continuing his search, Saalkan viewed the PADD in his hands with intense focus. This had to work. When he finally found the chief engineer, Himmel was in a small huddle with two technicians who were giving him a status report on one task or another. Saalkan waited patiently for them to finish with his hands held behind his back. Whether or not Himmel had seen him once the crewmembers departed, Saalkan was forced to call out in order to get his attention.

"Lieutenant Himmel! If I may have a word..."

Himmel stopped in his tracks and turned back, "Yes, what may I help you with, Lieutenant, uhh?"

"Saalkan." The Vulcan sniffed with practiced indifference. "I am here because I have had in my possession for some time schematics for a Romulan-style cloaking device." He extended his PADD toward Soren. "You may review them, but I do wish to retain the PADD. As it happens, I have also completed construction on a tetryonic compositor, which you may know is the essential component to the Romulan design."

Himmel was a bit thrown back and confused, "schiesse," he mumbled under his breathe. He looked over the PADD and looked up to Saalkan, "a cloak, Lieutenant? What would you like me to do with these plans?" Soren did not want assume anything, but he felt like he was missing something.

"Use them in the upcoming mission of course," Saalkan said, eyebrow raised in surprise at stating the obvious. "The Treaty of Algernon does not apply in the Gamma Quadrant, a Romulan concession from the Dominion War. I can transmit the data to your personal console, as well as have the tetryonic compositor sent over from my lab. All that remains for you is to apply it to the deflector array."

Soren felt uneasy, "Right, I figured that's what you meant. Captain Ainscow made no mention to me that we need to put in a cloak during our briefing. Did the Captain or Lieutenant Johansson send you?"

Saalkan stiffened. "I am acting outside the standard chain of command," he admitted. "If you prefer, I can return after submitting my proposal to the captain or the lieutenant, but I did not think doing so would allow us to apply the tetryonic compositor to the deflector array in time." He sighed and narrowed his eyes, as if an unpleasant thought had occurred to him. "If you desire, you may take full credit for the creation and implementation of the cloaking device. I do not require recognition, Lieutenant Himmel. I simply wish to provide every possible advantage to our mission."

Himmel didn't respond but only gestured for Saalkan to follow him. The Lieutenant follow behind the engineer to his office. They entered and the room look like it was not in much use, aside from the homemade coffee station. When the doors closed behind them Soren let out a deep sigh and leaned against his desk looking at the Science officer.

"I'm not concerned about who receives credit. Maybe it's been my last 5 years teaching at the Academy but we drill into the cadets the chain of command and not going over the head of their superiors. However, I understand what your saying, there is a large benefit to have a cloak considering the situation we're in." Soren then waved the PADD by his head, "Where did you come up with these plans?"

"I was part of the Vulcan Science Academy since before you were born," Saalkan said with a sniff. "Vulcan scientific surveys make several finds and discoveries which do not get filed with Starfleet. Sensitive data such as this is guarded closely for obvious reasons. With my completion of the tetryonic compositor, now seemed to be the time to present such an advantage to the ship." He held up the PADD once again. "Do you want the cloaking device or not, Lieutenant Himmel?"

Soren pondered deeply. He didn't like making brash decisions. His hand reached up went through his hair and he scratched the back of his head. "Alright Lieutenant, we can use your plans and install them to the deflector array. However, we're not going to use this equipment until Captain Ainscow knows about it and for what purpose you have planned it for. I expect you to tell her Lieutenant. I can join you if you need me."

"That won't be necessary, as I already have an appointment," Saalkan said in calm diffidence. "I may have acted outside the regular chain of command, but I did not disregard it entirely." He turned around to walk away, then paused. "I will leave the cloaking device's safe operation to you. I'll have the tetryonic compositor delivered once it's approved by the captain. Good day, Lieutenant." As he approached the door, he said without looking back, "Computer, upload data file one-zero-one from my PADD to the Chief Engineer's terminal. Authorization Saalkan-Zeta-6."